By Robecca Leyden

Some exciting things happened this fall winter Fashion Week in Europe. Matthieu Blazy is the new Creative Director of Bottega Veneta and debuted; Mui Mui declared the return of the belt skirt with THAT damn micro mini everyone is bloody wearing and you best believe there was some political commentary.

Below, are some of our favourite fashion moments from the catwalk.

Miu Miu is apparently trying to ruin our lives with showcasing a fall winter collection that will look good on basically no one, but is apparently loved by every stylist under the sun as it’s freaking everywhere. Seen on Lorde, Paloma Elsesser, and suuuuuuper awkwardly on Nicole Kidman – in an air brushing to infinity disaster – on the cover of Vanity Fair (newsflash; it’s actually ok to be a woman in your 50s so let the woman actually age because whatever this shit is that they are trying to make her look like, is not it).

Versace was all corsets and oversized blazers. Which just always works.

Themes of revolution and revolt were popular amongst luxury fashion houses as a response to the current Ukraine/Russian crisis. Many people are divided when it comes to the response from much of the fashion industry when it comes to Ukraine. Mainly for two reasons: 1) some of the gestures seem performative and 2) no one made this much of a deal about Palestine so seems a bit racist. I’ll let you decide what you think on this. Balmin opened their show with a two-tribes dance reflective of the current Ukraine invasion, a “push back against hate, lies and aggression” as stated in the maison’s show notes.

Giorgio Armani had a silent show during its Milan Fashion Week showcase as a sign of respect towards the unfolding tragedy.

Then, there was the Balenciaga. First thing you need to know is that Demna Gvasalia, the creative head of Balenciaga, is a Georgian refugee, so the Ukraine crisis is hitting home. Demna’s connection with Ukraine’s plight is all the more wrenching because one of his displaced family’s first refuges was in Odessa, the beautiful city in the south of the country which is currently under threat of being occupied by Russian forces. To preface the show, blue and yellow Ukrainian-flag T-shirts were laid on every chair, with a printed statement from Demna, ending on the note that love must win. Then his voice filled the auditorium, reading the encouragement to believe in Ukraine by Oleksandr Oles, one of the nation’s great cultural poet-heroes. No doubt about it, Demna wanted that to be heard solely in the Ukrainian language. No translation was provided. It would be understood by that those need to hear it, he said. But the staging: models struggling forward, bent against driving snow and wind, some carrying heavy tote bags, took on a whole other significance in the agonizing context of current reality. Backstage, Demna was clear that the apocalyptic scenario had synced in with the feeling of helpless exposure to the elements he’d gone through during his escape, trekking on foot up a Georgian mountain as a child. The section where young men were wrapped only in towels and underwear.

Matthieu Blazy’s Bottega Veneta Winter 2022 Show was a success and I am kind of obsessed. “The idea was to bring back energy, a silhouette that really expressed motion, because Bottega is a bag company, so you go somewhere, you don’t stay home. This collection basically is a journey,” he continued. “There’s many characters, they all have places to go, they feel quite free.”